Sausage Party

Sausage Party is pretty much the most offensive, disgusting, and utterly hilarious I have seen this year. You should expect this from a Seth Rogen movie. Whoever told him you couldn't make a successful adult animated movie was wrong because, at the time of writing this review, the film has grossed a total of $91.1 million at the box office.

The film follows the premise of food at the local market believe that humans are Gods. When purchased, the food believes that they have been "chosen" to go to "the great beyond". Of course, being food, they are taken home to be chopped up, cooked, and eaten. The main character of the film is a sausage named Frank (voiced by Rogen). He, like all the other foods in the market, wishes to be chosen by the Gods. One day, before the Fourth of July weekend, he and his fellow sausages (voiced by Michael Cera and Jonah Hill, to name a few) are chosen. Frank's girlfriend, a hot dog bun named Brenda (voiced by Kristen Wiig), is also chosen to go with the sausages. They celebrate, but are cut off when they have a collision close to the cash register, and Frank and Brenda fall out of the cart. From there the film splits into two different plots. Frank and Brenda meet Sammy Bagel Jr. and Kareem Abdul Lavash (voiced by Edward Norton and David Krumholtz, respectively) as they return to their respective aisles to attempt to be purchased again. Frank, at some point, breaks off from the group and meets the "Non-parishables", a bottle of tequila named Firewater (voiced by Bill Hader), a box of grits named Mr. Grits (voiced by Craig Robinson), and a homosexual Twinkie named Twink (voiced by Scott Underwood). They warn Frank of how their so-called "Gods" take their food brethren home to eat. But they tell him this while smoking weed out of a kazoo. The parallel plot involves how one of the sausages, Barry (Michael Cera) escapes from being eaten and how he finds a way to make it so that the food can be seen and heard by humans (bathsalts. A bit more creativity here would've been appreciated). Eventually, the plots intertwine to create a climax where the food fight back.

This movie was funny, there is no doubt. That said, it is not for the faint of heart or the people who are easily offended. Most of the jokes tend to be racist, sexist, sex-related, drug-related, or full of words that would get me kicked out of most dignified places. This is one of those movies that make you fear for the direction our country is taking.

When watching the commercial/trailer for the first time, I was secretly terrified. I had no way to accurately decipher whether my pizza was going to come alive and scream as I eat his legs. Walking in, I was skeptical. Ultimately, I was pleased with the final result. Seth Rogen and his crew certainly have perfected their craft of pushing the envelope for their movies (simply a hair away from an NC-17 rating).

While some of the jokes felt stale and went flat, there were an abundance of jokes that did make me laugh. I appreciated the theological overtones of the movie because it made it all the more enjoyable. Religion and theology isn't really discussed in mainstream films and it was refreshing to watch a movie that gives it an unflinching look. I'm sort of glad that it was in an animated film about sausages, because I feel as though there is no funnier way to present it.

My criticisms of the movie are easy. I felt as though, while the voice acting was successful, the plot felt long and boring at places. The pace definitely could have been sped up, but I'm able to let that go because you need to go for 90 minutes, and there are only so many jokes you can make about food having sex (it's slightly more disturbing than you think it is).

I give this film a solid 3 1/2 stars. A bit more of a plot development would have been nice, but for being the first of its kind, it was not a bad adult animated film. I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoy previous Seth Rogen movies and those who are looking for a film with a little food for thought (see what I did there?).

Subscribe

Get Teen Ink’s 48-page monthly print edition. Written by teens since 1989.